A study that looks at how mothers and children

behave in their natural home environments.

Researchers across 30 universities in North America are coming together to learn about what mothers and children do at home. Experienced researchers will visit the homes of participating families and record a slice of the daily lives of mothers and children. Participating families may help scientists to better understand how children learn in the home.

Eligibility for participation

You and your child will be eligible to participate in this study if all six of these are true:

Your child is the only child in the home (i.e. has no siblings)
Only English and/or Spanish is/are spoken at home
Your child was born at term (37-41 weeks)
Your child has not been diagnosed with any disability (cognitive, auditory, vision, motor)
Both biological parents of the child were at least 21 when the child was concieved.
You are willing to share the video recordings with other researchers (through a secure web-based library available only to accredited researchers)

What you can expect

This single-session study will last between 120 and 180 minutes. If you agree to be in this study, we will ask you and your child to go about your daily activities for an hour in your home while we film you. We will also film the rooms in your home, measure the spaces that are accessible to your child, and record the decibel level of ambient noise in your home. We may ask you and your child to play with a set of child-friendly toys for a few minutes. Finally, we may ask you questions about your child’s locomotion, language, emotion, health, toys and animals and media use in the home, and racial and ethnic background as well questions about family health, division of household labor, and education.

You will receive a $50 gift card for your participation.

Your and your child’s participation are voluntary and you can choose to end a session at any time without loss of benefits. You have the right to review videos and other records of your home visit session and request that all or any portion of the data be destroyed. You have the right to skip any questions you do not wish to answer. There are no known risks associated with your child’s participation in this research beyond those of everyday life.

Sign up and be a part of something big

We would love for you and your child to participate! If you are interested, and if you are elgible to participate, please sign up using the form below.

List of universities where you can participate

California

California State University at Fullerton
California State University at Long Beach
Stanford University
University of California at Davis
University of California at Merced
University of California at Riverside
University of California at Santa Cruz

District of Columbia

Georgetown University

Florida

University of Miami

Georgia

University of Georgia

Illinois

University of Chicago
University of Chicago

Indiana

Indiana University
Purdue University

Louisiana

Tulane University

Massachusetts

Boston University

Michigan

Michigan State University

New Jersey

Princeton University
Rutgers University

New York

City University of New York, College of Staten Island
Cornell University
New York University

Ohio

Ohio State University

Oregon

University of Oregon

Pennsylvania

Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Penn State University
University of Pittsburgh

Tennessee

Vanderbilt University

Texas

University of Houston
University of Texas at Austin

Virginia

Virginia Commonwealth University

An hour in the life…